And I, the monarch of each race,

Had power to kill—yet, strange to tell!

In quiet we had learned to dwell;[h]

My very chains and I grew friends,

So much a long communion tends390

390

To make us what we are:—even I

Regained my freedom with a sigh.

[29]

[29]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] {7} [In the first draft, the sonnet opens thus—

[1]

"Belovéd Goddess of the chainless mind!

Brightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art,

Thy palace is within the Freeman's heart,

Whose soul the love of thee alone can bind;

And when thy sons to fetters are consign'd—

To fetters, and the damp vault's dayless gloom,

Thy joy is with them still, and unconfined,

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